Witchstorm

The World of the Witchstorm is a low-powered supers game that uses the HERO System ruleset.

Overview

In May of the year 2010, magic returned to the world in a catastrophic way. Thousands of years ago, the world had been dominated by the magical civilization of Atlantis. A group of Atlantean sorcerer-terrorists performed a ritual to prevent further incursions from other dimensions. They knew that the ritual would mean the end of their civilization, but they thought that it would be worth it to create an impenetrable barrier that would prevent any extra-dimensional forces from ever troubling the human race again. An experiment in drawing energy from other universes caused the barrier to collapse. Magical forces that had been held at bay for milennia came pouring into the world bringing death and destruction in the form of Witchstorms that swept the globe.

Different Witchstorms drew energy from different dimensions and had varying effects. In Tucson (the home city of the chronicle), the witchstorms brimmed with anti-life energy. Those who were struck by it were changed. The vast majority of those who were unable to find cover were transformed into the walking dead, but those with the genes of ancient Atlantean sorcerers were affected differently. Some were able to manipulate the energy and survive relatively unscathed, but with magical powers. Others were unable to shield themselves from the effect and were transformed into free willed, magic wielding ghouls.

Other areas of the world suffered other effects, and the global infrastructure broke down. The campaign is a superheroic, post-apocalypse world.